


Five Times Anissa and Grace Talk About Thunder

by predilection



Category: Black Lightning (TV), DCU (Comics)
Genre: F/F, Happy Ending, Identity Reveal, Secret Identity, happy wlw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-23
Updated: 2018-07-23
Packaged: 2019-06-15 02:45:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15403239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/predilection/pseuds/predilection
Summary: "You should dress up as Thunder for Cosplay Night!"Anissa freezes because Grace doesn't know about her alter ego and of all the superheroes she could pick, this is definitely the worst.





	Five Times Anissa and Grace Talk About Thunder

**Author's Note:**

> Just something short and sweet I wrote at two in the morning the night I finished season one.
> 
> Warnings for a character panicking and canon-levels of violence. (This has a happy ending.)

**one**

The first time it happens, they're lounging in bed together, Anissa on her stomach with her textbook in front of her studying for a midterm, and Grace leaning back against the pillows reading a comic book. "There's another Cosplay Night coming up at work," Grace says. "You should come."

"Are you asking me out on a date?" Anissa teases and is rewarded when Grace laughs. "I'll need a new costume though. My catsuit, uh, got ruined."

"I'm sure we can come up with something for you. Hmmm." Grace rubs at her chin theatrically as she looks Anissa over with a hint of heat. "You should cosplay a superhero," she decides. 

"A superhero?"

"Yeah, like Batgirl or..." Grace sits up straighter. "Oh my gosh! You should go as Thunder!"

Anissa freezes because Grace doesn't know about her alter ego and of all the superheroes she could pick for Anissa to dress up as, this is definitely the worst.

"You can totally pull it off!" Grace continues, oblivious to her distress. "You kinda look like her, not to mention that you have the desire to do good in the world! It's perfect!"

"...I don't know about perfect," Anissa says and her discomfort must show on her face because Grace pouts.

"Then how about couples cosplay?" Grace asks, perking up again, and Anissa internally sighs in relief.

"Who do you have in mind?" she asks, and Grace's excitement is so genuine and bright that Anissa starts getting excited too as Grace tells her about a friend online who can hook them up with sailor scout costumes.

 

**two**

The second time it happens, Anissa looks over Grace's shoulder while she's sitting at her kitchen table and sees her like a post on a Thunder fan page. 

"You're a member of..." Anissa squints at her phone. "The Thunder Appreciation Society?"

Grace looks up at her, a single eyebrow raised. "Jealous?"

The response shocks a laugh out of Anissa and she bends down at Grace's side so she can kiss her.

"Nope," she says when she pulls away. "You can keep your fan pages."

"Good," Grace says. "Because just so you know, I have a thing for women who want to make the world a better place."

Anissa knows Grace is teasing but also that she's telling the absolute truth and she can't help it. She leans in and kisses Grace again.

 

**three**

The third time it happens it shouldn't happen at all. Grace turns on the television and the local news channel is showing footage of someone in costume standing in the middle of downtown Freeland. Whoever they are, they're blowing up cars with green energy blasts and demanding that Black Lightning and Thunder come out and face them. There are civilians running in the background and the reporter warns everyone to stay inside. 

Anissa is on her feet and rushing towards Grace's apartment door a second later and she only realizes what she's doing when Grace follows after her asking, "Anissa? Anissa, wait. Where are you going?"

Anissa bends down to zip up her boots. "I'm sorry. I just remembered something. I have to go."

When she stands again, Grace is between her and the door. "Did you not hear the reporter telling us to not go outside? Whatever it is, it can wait."

Anissa tries to push past her but Grave catches her arm and Anissa looks at her -- really looks at her -- for the first time. Her brows are furrowed, confused and pleading, and eyes are wide with fear. Fear for Anissa.

It hits her then that Grace's current terror is her fault and it forces her to remember all the times her mother talked about watching her father leave to save people, not knowing if he'd be able to save himself too. She knows that right then and there that Grace is someone she wants to be with for a very, very long time and that Grace needs to know her secret if they're going to make this work.

Without looking away, she steps closer to Grace, closing the space between them, and gently takes her face in her hands. "I'll be fine," she promises before she kisses Grace, taking time she doesn't really have to convey just how much she intends to keep her word.

"I'm coming with you," Grace says when they pull apart.

"I'll be fine," Anissa says again, more forcefully this time, and opens the door. "Stay here. Please. I'll be back soon."

 

**four**

The next time it happens, Anissa is late to a dinner date with Grace. 

She's still at Gambi's, having lost track of time testing a new suit design, when the explosion booms through the air, shaking the underground bunker. For it to be this loud, it had to be nearby, and when Gambi tells her it's three streets over, at or very close to the restaurant she's supposed to be at right now, she's running out of the tailor shop, panic fueling her to run as fast as she can towards the smoke and shouts in the distance.

Her panic only gets worse when she rounds the corner and sees what she feared: the restaurant and the store next to it are up in flames. She's pushing past civilians rushing the opposite way when she spots someone else running towards the fire instead of away from it.

It's Grace, and the bone-deep relief that hits her is short-lived because of her trajectory.

Anissa catches up to her but when she makes a grab for her shoulder, Grace twists out from her grip and keeps moving in the direction of the flames.

Anissa grabs her again and has to wrap her arms around her from behind to keep her from escaping. It's only then that she realizes that Grace is screaming her name.

"Anissa! Anissa! Let me go!" she squirms in Anissa's grip and even jabs her elbows into her side, but Anissa holds on. 

"You don't understand!" Grace continues to shout, and her screams have a panicked, desperate quality to them that makes Anissa's heart ache. "My girlfriend was in there! I was late for our date and she's in there and-- Anissa!"

She's in costume, she remembers, and she squeezes Grace tighter.

"Your girlfriend is fine," she finds herself saying and when Grace screams her name again, agony ripping from her throat, Anissa shakes her. "Grace, listen to me. Listen to me! Anissa is fine. I'm fine."

Grace trembles in her arms but she stops fighting to escape and she stops screaming too. Anissa doesn't know what to do so she just holds her and says, "It's okay. I got you. I'm right here."

It's only when sirens wail in the distance that Grace moves again. She pushes against Anissa's arms, asking for give, and Anissa loosens her hold enough for Grace to slowly turn to face her.

Grace's expression is miserable and her face is a mess of tears. She looks Anissa in the eye through the lenses of her mask, desperate and searching, and Anissa knows the second she finds the confirmation she's looking for, because suddenly Grace is hugging her, her arms wrapped tight against around her torso as she sobs into Anissa's shoulder.

 

**five**

They're lying in bed facing each other, when Anissa finally breaks the silence.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I should've said something before anything like this could've happened."

"You should've," Grace agrees, but she doesn't sound upset and she reaches out to rest her hand against Anissa's cheek. 

"I know. I'm so, so sorry." Anissa places her hand over Grace's at the same time she turns her head to kiss Grace's palm. 

"I'm glad you're okay," Grace says, and smiles at her, her expression fond.

"Why aren't you angry?" Anissa asks, because that's what she was expecting: anger and an understandable sense of betrayal.

"You're lucky, you know?" Grace says instead.

Anissa swallows, nervous. "How so?"

Grace leans in to presses a kiss to Anissa's lips and then she surprises Anissa further by laughing softly and raising her eyebrows. "Well, I happen to have a thing for women who want to make the world a better place."


End file.
